The scale of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is rising, and it’s getting worse.
You can safely assume that if you haven’t been hacked yet, then it’s only a matter of time.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com began reporting that over 162,000 WordPress-powered websites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites and blogs are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Source: BlogDefender site)
According to the Cnet report,
“With some old-fashioned trickery, hackers were able to get more than 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered Web sites to mount a distributed-denial-of-service attack against another Web site.”
(Source: cnet.com/news/ddos-attack-is-launched-from-162000-wordpress-sites)
According to security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a well-known flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service cyberattack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your website or blog has no significant value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, all websites are an opportunity to profit or benefit at your expense.
If hackers can exploit a web security flaw that allows them to gain control of your website or blog, that website can then be used to attack more valuable web sites.
The reality is that brute-force software bots are most likely looking for security weaknesses and trying to break into your web site right now. Whether they can break into your site successfully or not, will depend on how hard or easy you have made things for hackers and bots to continue persisting until they can find how to get access, or decide to look for a more vulnerable target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Website Security Check Source: Hackertarget.com)
You will see that the test returns a number of results and information about your WordPress site …
(Hackertarget – WordPress security scan results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the above tool that if you can access all of this information about your site, hackers can too.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
The ability to see what version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories are all potentially valuable information to hackers, as this informs them about any exploitable vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple way you can stop broadcasting all of this information about your web site and make your site invisible to malicious attackers and bots.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the developer of BlogDefender began developing BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress-driven site he set up for his mother had been hacked into. This blog had practically nothing to offer, yet it was still hacked.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being suspended by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had occurred inside the server, as well as the addition of a number of phishing files designed to drive visitors to the site and steal their financial information.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
This example demonstrates that all websites have value to hackers.
Blog Defender scans you website for security weaknesses …
And then shows you how to quickly and easily fix these …
Blog Defender – WP Plugins
Blog Defender comes with 3 plugins:
The first plugin in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender website)
The plugin lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and cloud storage solutions using different backup methods (including FTP and email backups), automate complete or partial backups, exclude files or tables from your backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating websites to different domains or server locations), search and replace text in your database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin # 2 provides your website with security …
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
The plugin performs a range of site and file protection functions (see “Product Features” section below).
Pro Plugin # 3 lets you scan your files and content to see if any code in your files has been changed, and fix problems …
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where others benefit from your work without providing any benefit in return).
Blog Defender – Video Training
In addition to plugins, Blog Defender also includes step-by-step video training and downloadable guides that will show you exactly what you need to do to protect your site from malicious users …
(Screenshot source: BlogDefender.com)
For more details go here:
Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product are quite easy to install. Just upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender is an easy-to-follow do-it-yourself training product that will guide you through the website security process and show you what to do, including how to set things up, and even which WordPress plugins you can install for free to get the job done inexpensively.
Additional benefits of this plugin include the following:
- Protect your website from hackers, spammers, bad bots, data miners and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Protects Intellectual Property From Theft – If you sell a digital product (e.g. downloadable ebooks, videos, etc.), your product can end up as freeware on download sharing sites.
- Avoid A Nightmare Situation – When a website is hacked, expect to go through a whole lot of inconvenience and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through any issues these have caused. During this time, your, web presence can be suspended by your host, or even blocked by search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business details or financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Features
Blog Defender offers a number of features to web site owners.
The product provides fixes for all of the following security areas:
- Webhost Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- WP Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- MySQL Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitor Files
- Link Tracking
- Known Offender Blocking
- Automating Core Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical process to help protect your web site, addressing hosting security, using scanning and detection tools to identify risky themes and plugins, and then helping you implement site-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
User Feedback
Here are just a few of the testimonials plugin users have provided for Blog Defender:
”This is a seriously good product!” Simon Hodgkinson, www.hodgkinsonpublishing.com
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“Sure wish I’d had this before I lost over a dozen blogs just recently!” Kathe Lucas – www.wackycentral.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, no Blog Defender-secured sites were hacked since Blog Defender’s release in 2012.
Matt Garrett states on his site, however …
“With the volume of attacks nowadays … we probably won’t hold forever, so we’ve been busy creating even tougher WordPress security.”
Cybersecurity is is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the knowledge and technologies that developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, doesn’t cost you a fortune and it’s as good if not better than most premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Blog Defender Plugin Support
The product is well-supported, can be used by both Mac and PC users, is compatible with the latest WordPress release and is backed by a risk-free, 30 day, complete refund guarantee.
Product Cost
Blog Defender is normally available for personal use only on unlimited sites. When we last checked, however, it was also being sold with Developer rights, allowing users to secure client sites as well.. Cost = $47.00.
Note: Current pricing for Blog Defender can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the price at the time this review was published. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the software seller when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
For help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Download This Product
Regardless of the kind of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you cannot ignore the importance of securing your site.
WordPress is a very secure platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like ensuring that your WordPress installation, WordPress plugins and themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Blog Defender helps you understand what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities are, what hosting companies can and can’t do to help prevent your sites being hacked or compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your WordPress installation easier.
To learn more, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Plugin For WordPress
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